Manifold gaskets or not?

[GTOBEN]

Is the Cerb supposed to have an exhuast manifold gasket? I found the rough running of my engine to be a blowing manifold and upon inspection found it is sealed with sealant rather than a gasket.
This may be to do with the engine being a 4.5 and the exhaust being a 4.2 (is there much difference in the two?).

[RUSSELLM]

As far as I know, neither of them have a gasket.

Just good old sealant.

Looking at the how the rest of the car's been put together, I can only presume they ran out of cable ties, so had to use sealant.

[GTOBEN]

Yeah right! I often wonder if the car has had bad workmanship in the past or if it left the factory like that? Seems there have been alot of 'Friday afternoon' jobs done if you know what i mean...

[RUSSELLM]

Some of the cable routing, e.g. the battery live, is just dangerous.

Other one's like the washer fluid hoses that invariably get burnt through by the exhaust or severed by the engine bay cover, are just tiresome.

On a more positive note, having had a 96 & A 2001, I'm please to see that they were consistent in the build quality across the years.

Everything that fails on the old one, appears to be failing on the new one...... Superb

[ridds]

Sealant is quite commonly used in racing applications.

[FarmyardPants]

RUSSELLM said:

Some of the cable routing, e.g. the battery live, is just dangerous.

I'd buy that.

[FarmyardPants]

ridds said:

Sealant is quite commonly used in racing applications.

Bathrooms, too.

[caduceus]

FarmyardPants said:

RUSSELLM said:

Some of the cable routing, e.g. the battery live, is just dangerous.

I'd buy that.

For a dollar...

[JensenA]

FarmyardPants said:

ridds said:

Sealant is quite commonly used in racing applications.

Bathrooms, too.

[ridds]

Touche

[brogenville]

Can anyone suggest a suitable sealant for using with the exhaust manifold? The best I can find so far is stuff thats rated to 250 degeres, which I would doubt is enough.